Apple Beats Microsoft in Fortune 500. Here’s why.

Steve Jobs helped make the computer better by making the machine friendlier and repositioning it away from the PC, hence closer to consumers. He eliminated the ‘blue screen of death’ from our lives with the iMac, changed the way we experience music with the iPod, connected us in new ways to each other and helped the world seem smaller with the iPhone and iPad. Together, these devices have created a new primary use for technology: creating, sharing, and enjoying experiences. This new reason for purchase has shaken the PC-making industry. Witness Apple’s beating its long-time rival Microsoft in the 2011 Fortune 500 rankings (#36 domestically and #111 globally).